The present disclosure relates generally to information handling systems, and more particularly to the teaming of one or more network connections in an information handling system.
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option is an information handling system (IHS). An IHS generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements may vary between different applications, IHSs may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in IHSs allow for IHSs to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, IHSs may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
IHSs may include one or more network connections that may be teamed or aggregated to increase throughput beyond what a single network connection can sustain, and to provide redundancy in case one of the network connections fails. For example, server IHSs may include a plurality of network interface controllers or network interface cards (NICs), each having a plurality of connections or ports. Conventionally, an operating system deployed on the server IHS may use software to team or aggregate the NICs such that the plurality of NICs are viewed as a single NIC with a number of ports equal to the sum of the ports on all of the NICs. Such software teaming of NICs by the operating system raises a number of issues. For example, teaming of NICs may be performed to provide redundancy for network failures, but in the event of an operating system failure there is a high possibility that such redundancy may not be provided.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an improved network interface connection teaming system.